Bunks or Keel forms

[sunflounder]

Folks;

I am moving to the Puget Sound islands and am contemplating using my fancy Rack&Roll trailer for the 1K mile haul. This is an aluminum car rack on a trailer thing with 16" wheels and motorcycle like suspension designed for kayaks not 'real boats' like my almost done Bulls Eye (just the rudder and dagger board to go...after 2 failed attempts at an over ambitious foil).

My quandry is should I adapt the build forms shaped to the bottom but would only support two lateral planes or create some bunk supports for two length wise planes.

Another problem is coming up with some sort of bow support for the 2" square tongue. It's also Aluminum so I don't want to be drilling any holes but am having some difficulty finding any ready made stuff. Of course the manufacturer (now distributed by Yakima) has no such approved accessories.

I note the board folks commenting on the wear and tear from trailering being the most grievious the boat will see short of surfing onto the rocks and am hoping to minimize the damage.

thanks

DaveA

IMG_0214.jpg (53.62 KiB) Viewed 3849 times

Build forms leaning against trailer

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[vupilot]

Boy, thats such a pretty boat, I would hate to put it at any risk. 1000 miles is a lot of chances for big holes in road.

What about a Jet Ski trailer?

Im guessing its too big/heavy to put on a car top roof rack? Could you put it in the moving van last and secure it upside down on a mattress or something?

[BruceDow]

The general idea is to provide a lot of surface area to spread out the weight of the boat and to provide that support at the right point in the boat

Your boat is pretty light, so those build forms might do the trick. What is on the inside of the boat where those forms are? Would they be supporting frames? or would they be in the middle of plywood spans?

If they are in the middle of plywood spans, I would think about adding longitudinal supports between them.


I imagine with some creative strapping, you do not need a bow support. Just make sure that the boat is properly secured to prevent both side-to-side AND front-to-back movement.

Good luck with the move.

[upspirate]

I've seen these, they are nice trailers.

I would think the boat you have is about the same weight as a few kayaks,so that should be fine

I can't remember what these trailers have for supports,but how about strapping the boat upside down on the trailer like you would cartop on a rack on the roof?

This would also eliminate the need for a cover to keep rain out and eliminate the weight from the rain

[sunflounder]

Thanks responders!

Ideally I would like to put the boat inside the 'pod' (one of those 16'x8'x8' containers they drop off, pick up, store and ship for you) but what I thought were our meager possesions are rapidly filling the thing up and I haven't even got my tools in it yet

I thought upside down like a canoe would work as well even if it meant loosing the internal storage space but as the build neared completion I flipped it onto it's rails and couged them up pretty well just resting on some 2x2s. Those nice curvy rails are the boats most endearing feature and don't present many flat runs for support.

curvy rails

So back to bunks and their fabrication.
Here is my current plan;
Use some beefy U channel electrical hanger stuff from HD as main bracing
Bolt on to it some lighter 3" wide U channel as uprights
Bolt on some 1.5' angle with one bolt as adjustable angle support for 2x4 bunk.
Strap the beejesus out of it so it moves as a unit

This is all mild steel available at HD will it hold up?
The boat with stuff will probably weigh in at around 200lbs, trailer 150lbs, tow vehicle a 2006 Prius :0

Last time I trailered a boat was a Venture 21 with a VW van back in the '60s trailer gods help us.

More thanks guys

DaveA

[upspirate]

What is the capacity of this trailer?

I wouldn't overload that!

[sunflounder]

Pirate;

Oops forgot that. Capacity of the trailer is 250lbs can get heavy duty shocks to get up to 300lb capacity. The shock/spring has adjustments to tighten up spring as in motorcycle suspension.
The frame of the trailer has top and bottom T channels for mounting things to it.

Here's another picture for eyeballs sake.

IMG_0179.jpg (57 KiB) Viewed 3766 times

DaveA

[upspirate]

Dave,I had gone to Yakima's website and saw it was 250-300LBS.

I think I would be very careful not to overload this trailer,esp on a cross country run.

That steel + the boat will be close if not over.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Oh yea,beautiful boat,but that mast is a little short!!!

Have a great trip

[sunflounder]

Well I finally got the job done. I went with the hull forms for support since the bunks I dry fitted only provided a few square inches of support at the 2x4s simply didn't flex with the light and curvy hull.
I hotglued 1/2" of polyethylene foam under the carpet and it seemed to conform to the hull pretty well.

The attached pics don't show the cobbled together out of slotted angle bow support that I put on after the boat was settled in. Strapped the thing down really well so the boat and trailer move as one and took it for it's maiden ride with a friend following who know trailers better than I.
It tracked flawlessly and with 4" of damped travel didn't show any untoward behavior even on some bumpy rural roads.

Still haven't figured out how to launch the thing, but am working on some sort of wheeled support since it sit too high to just back it into the water.

Thanks for all the advice.

DaveA